"ONCE IN GRACE, ALWAYS IN GRACE."
ALTHO this doctrine is not so generally discussed as it was fifty years ago, it is held by many people. The belief is well calculated to encourage the backslider in his way and course; for as long as he indulges the idea that because he was once converted he can not be finally lost, he will be content to take his ease spiritually, and to cater to the lusts that have drawn him away from the Lord. He will do so under the vain impression that in time the Spirit of the Lord will bring him back to the fold even against his inclination. If there be no danger of one's going to perdition after once experiencing a change of heart, what mean the warnings of Scripture against such danger? To those who maintain the doctrine, or rather the delusion, under consideration, the apostle Paul says plainly, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 1 Cor. 10:12. And this warning was predicated on the "ensample" of those Israelites who came out of Egypt "of faith" (Heb. 11:29) and were baptized "in the cloud and in the sea," and ate "spiritual meat," and drank "spiritual drink," drinking of "that spiritual Rock that followed them," which was Christ; yet they tempted Christ by murmuring, and were "destroyed by the destroyer." They perished in the wilderness, and were not permitted to enter the promised land. See 1 Cor. 10:1-12. A like warning is given in the third chapter of Hebrews: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." This warning is also predicated upon the failure of those Israelites who came out of Egypt by faith, but fell in the wilderness, not being able to enter Canaan because of unbelief. Eternal life is gained through faith in Christ, but only those secure it who "by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality." Rom. 2:7. Paul also compares the Christian life to a race, the preparation for which may not be neglected. His exhortation is: "So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." 1 Cor. 9:24, 25. Now no backslider is temperate in all things; and no matter how high may have been his spiritual attainments at one time, as long as he conducts himself in an intemperate manner he is resisting the Spirit of God. Such a course is sheer presumption, and he who deliberately pursues it has no promise of salvation at all. Every possible effort is required to win the race. Paul never was a backslider from the faith of Jesus, yet he found it necessary to maintain a constant "fight" against temptation and the lusts of the flesh. He dared not give way at any time. He says, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Verse 27. Thus it is clear that Paul did not entertain the false theory that because he was once converted he was sure of eternal life in the end, without regard to his course of life. Even at his best, he saw a possibility of being a "castaway." Peter's testimony on this point is equally plain. Speaking of those who are led away by false teachers, he says: "If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." 2 Peter 2:20, 21. See, also, Luke 11:24-26. In harmony with this is the testimony of the epistle to the Hebrews: "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." Heb. 6:4, 5. But the Scriptures do not leave us with the doctrine by itself; they give us illustrations of the subject. Balaam was a prophet of the Lord, but he fell away through a natural desire for this world's honor and riches. By his fall he became a common soothsayer, or diviner, after the manner of the heathen, and was eventually slain in battle, having taken his place with the Midianites in their opposition to Israel. See Num. 24:15-25; 31:7, 8; Joshua 13:22, margin; 2 Peter 2:15. A more emphatic illustration is that of King Saul. That is, some may deem it more to the point because it is said that the Lord gave him another heart. Saul was out hunting his father's asses, and stopped at the house of Samuel the prophet. Before parting with him, Samuel anointed him to be king over Israel, and told him what should come to pass as he went on his way. Among other signs was this: "Thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy; and the Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man." 1 Sam. 10:5, 6. "And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day." Verse 9. The record goes on to state that when Saul met the company of prophets, "the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them." But after Saul became king, he departed from the Lord, and the Lord rejected him. He was not only rejected, as the head of the royal line in which the Messiah should be a lineal descendant, but the Spirit of the Lord was altogether withdrawn from him. After the death of Samuel, Saul was confronted by a Philistine army and was much afraid. He inquired of the Lord, but "the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." Then he sought a witch, contrary to the express command of the Lord, and took counsel of her. He had so far departed from God that he could not return; he had sinned away his day of grace; the Lord would have nothing more to do with him. And in the battle that followed, his army was defeated, and to avoid falling into the hands of the Philistines, he committed suicide. The life and experience of King Saul forms a complete refutation of the deceptive dogma of "once in grace, always in grace." No man can safely hold to such a delusion, for it is altogether out of harmony with the plain Word of the Lord. The words of Jesus are, "He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved." Matt. 24:13.